1st Week as a SAHM!!

With a week of no work under my belt, I think I'm going to like this stay-at-home job of being a full-time mama.....and a full time cook, a housekeeper, a pal to play catch with, a library goer, baby pool swimmer, grocery shopper, organizer, closet cleaner outer....um, yeah, that's just beginning the list of things we accomplished this week. I enjoyed every minute of it! I think Bo had a good time too, but I do think he misses his friends from the babysitter's. There's been a few times we've seen other kids and he's like, "That looks like Lauren." Or, "Is Kris going to be at the pool?" Poor guy, I'm hoping we run into his old babysitter and her clan at the pool sometime here soon so he can have some playtime with them. He does great playing in his room or out in the backyard by himself, I do join him occasionally, but I really need to get into a routine of setting play dates for him to socialize.
Other than the list of activities above, we've been busy. For Memorial Day weekend we camped at a near by lake. It was the first time using our camper. My family and a few friends joined us and I can easily say the kids had a blast. We adults did too, but goodness, I forgot how much work it is too. We were lucky though, we had four days of absolutely beautiful weather! My dad and grandpa just kept saying how they couldn't remember EVER having a Memorial Day weekend with that nice of weather. Bo was a great camper. He pretty much roamed the campsite playing with whatever he could find when his cousins weren't around. He never really tried to wander off out of our sites. Which is something I couldn't say last summer. He napped in the camper during the day and slept well each night. During the day we rode our bikes and went down to a little beach to swim. Hopefully we'll have great weather next time we go.
Another thing we've been busy with is getting Bo's new room set up. I ordered him a bedroom set that Kelly has to assemble. Watch out Bo - stay away from daddy! Wow, a bed, nightstand, and dresser is taking the better part of our Saturday to put together. Thank God Kelly is pretty handy and willing to get it all together asap. We still need to get a mattress and are waiting on the room darkening shades to arrive before we actually move Bo in there. Hopefully by the end of the week he'll be sleeping in a big boy bed! Pray that it's an easy transition!!
Here are a few pics from our weekend of camping and Bo and daddy assembling the nightstand.

My parents and younger brother, Pete:

My nephew Sam:Our attempt for a family photo...

School's Out For Summer!!!

Today was my last day with students! :-) I can't say I'm excited enough to stay home with my Bo all summer and then be home with two boys after this second little guy arrives. I still have to work all next week, so my vacation hasn't started quite yet, but it's still a good feeling to be one step closer. I do have to say though that I'd be enjoying this milestone a little bit more if I could have an ice cold red beer with salt. Or a big fat margarita, with salt. Oh...or one of those Michelob Ultra Lights with lime. Mmmmmm!!!

An Eventful Week

This has been quite an eventful week. The camper is clean, stocked, and ready to be used. Finally. Thank goodness!
Earlier this week we attended my cousin Braden's First Communion. It was good to get together with family, and Bo had a great time playing with all the kids. The first pic is of Kelly and Bo with my grandpa, which would be Bo's great-grandpa. The second one is of me and my sis...had to get a pic of the two preggos all dressed up! ha! And the three cuties are my niece and my two cousins - they look like they could be advertising orange Crush pop ;)
Friday we went to watch my brother Ben pole vault and high jump at his track meet. Bo was quite enthused. It kind of worries me, he'll probably start trying to vault himself over various things around the house. Wait, he does that already! Here's a pic of Bo with Ben, and one of Ben clearing the bar.
Saturday, we met Kelly's parents in Baldwin City for his graduation. He recently finished classes for his MBA. So glad that period of our lives is behind us, he was gone every Wednesday night for two years. I think it'll be well worth it in the long run though. While waiting for the graduation ceremony we found a nice park that was perfect for some picture taking.
On Sunday, for Mother's Day, I was greeted in bed with a plate full of donuts from Bo. He then crawled into bed with me and helped me eat them. When we finished the donuts I shooed him off into the living room to watch Mickey Mouse with his dad and I proceeded to watch 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy that I'd fallen behind on. It was a great start to the day! Later, I did some leisurely shopping with my mom. After 4 hours of shopping, we decided next time we'd better just go ahead and plan on telling the husbands we'd be gone ALL day, instead of just a few hours. When you don't shop a lot, you need A LOT of time to look at all the stuff you've been missing the past couple of months :)

Soggy Weather

Nothing like writing about the weather. Ugh. How can I possibly avoid it since all of our plans have been dampened by the torrential downpours and short power outages? I shouldn’t say plans. We didn’t exactly have plans this week, but there sure are a lot of things we could be doing outside these days.

We recently bought a used camper and I’ve had the itch to scrub it down, inside and out. We are storing it in my parents shed, which is wonderful, but doesn’t allow me to open the windows and let the fresh air and sunshine in. I’ve tried to Lysol a few things down in there, but about killed myself with all the fumes! Probably not such a good idea with a baby on board!

We also need to get some yard work done. I bought a couple of packs of daisies that really need planting. The poor things are sitting out on the deck drowning from all this moisture. There are several other things that I would love to see done to our yard. Plant a couple trees, make a few new flower beds in the backyard, put in a patio…hmm, think I’m asking too much!?! Naw…I don’t think so, we’ve been in our house for almost 4 years and still don’t have ONE tree in the ground!

Anyways, the weather hasn’t bothered Bo too much. He loves heading out back to dig in the mud! I swear, I’m changing that kids clothes three times a night! Can’t wait till the weather is warmer and I can just send him out shirtless and shoeless! It was funny the other night when we lost power in the early evening hours. At first, Bo was all excited about running around the house with a flashlight and heading downstairs when our county was under a tornado warning. But after about 30 minutes he was saying, “I wanna watch TV mommy.” It was hard for him to understand that it wouldn’t work. We’d explain that nothing worked because of the storm, then he’d say he wanted to watch it in mommy and daddy’s room. Well, we had to explain how ALL the TVs didn’t work. So as soon as the electricity came back on, the first thing he said is, “We can watch Mickey Mouse now!” What does that tell you? We watch too much TV at our house!

I have the day off tomorrow and am planning on doing some good ‘ole garage-saling with a friend. I need to find some stuff to fill the camper with - without emptying our wallets completely. The forecast looks like rain, but I don’t care, I’ll wear my raincoat! I’m going to find me a used coffeepot if it kills me!!

So, I had somewhat of an idea about how time consuming starting up my own blog would be based on how much time I spend reading other people’s blogs. But wow! I really look up to those of you that update your blog daily…sometimes even twice a day. And not with just one little paragraph either. Most the blogs I read post daily “novels” enticing me with their deep thoughts and insight on interesting topics. I would say I spend close to 30-45 minutes a day just reading, but now that I’ll be trying to keep my own, I may have to alter some of my habits.

I’m trying to take a piece of my own advice by keeping this online “journal” of my little family’s life. I preach to my middle school students weekly about the importance of saving their writing. I tell them that one day their daily journals that we keep will be treasures that they can look back on. Soon (4 weeks to be exact) I will have a little more free time on my hands, and another little person’s life to document (16 1/2 weeks before this guy’s arrival), so hopefully I can make it a habit to take the time and keep some memories here, so that one day I’ll have my own treasures to look back on.

Let's start with a picture of my "boys". Daddy recently turned 30 and Bo had no problem helping blow out all those candles!!